Up there with the best of the best ... Baulkham Hills Squash Club
with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
In leafy , quiet Hill Street in Baulkham Hills is a small community-based squash court that punches well above its weight . Baulkham Hills squash courts caters for the community and has anywhere between 200-250 competition and casual players every single week .
The squash courts are run by James Ethan who was a former world ranked squash player and notable author who wrote the book The Game Of Squash with John North .
James was by no means a natural when he started his squash journey back as a 17-year-old when his brother took him down the local squash courts for a hit . He kicked off his squash career in the late 80s with the old school heavy rackets , that had a smaller head than the lightweight modern rackets of today .
By the time James was 30 he was ranked number 250 in the world , which gave him the opportunity to travel . But since 2008 he achieved his dream of
The boys in action on the court .
becoming the owner of Baulkham Hills Squash and Fitness . Business is good for the squash centre which operates seven days a week . They also have facilities for swimmers and martial arts .
James told me there have been at least three dozen father-son combos that have come through the club , and there have been some extraordinarily talented players who have shared their journey in the Baulko courts .
I was delighted to meet some of the current young talents such as James and William Slade , Harry Swayley , Darvan Thavendran and Ayan Muhammad on my recent visit and watch them cut their moves on the court .
I also had time to speak to local players Geoff Swavley and the affable Darcy Arnold who is the fittest and most competitive 86-year-old I have ever seen . James says that the ideal body type for a professional squash player is about 6 ’ 0 ” or 6 ’ 1 ” and 90kg which is similar to the build of the Slade boys who are currently ranked in the top three in NSW for their age . Nouran Gohar is the current world ranked number one women ’ s squash player comes to train with James .
They have an almighty battle on their hands at the moment as the growth of western Sydney over the last 20 years has seen a population boom . There is a proposal for a block of units to be built where the squash and fitness centre currently stand . The club are trying to find a location that could cater for their needs . There is a possibility to move to Dural , but the club wants to get some certainty as they have the needs of 250 members to cater for .
Australia have been no slouches in squash in the past either with Geoff Hunt being world number one in 1975-1980 , Chris Dittmar world number one in 1993 , and David Palmer world number one in 2001 and 2006 .
In the women ’ s Australia have been equally strong with Vicki Cardwell number one in 1983 , Michelle Martin in 1993 , 94 , 95 and 96 , Sarah Fitzgerald was then number one in 1996 , 97 , 98 , 2001 and 2002 and Rachel Grinham was our last world
James and Will Slade , Darcy Arnold , James Ethan , Harry Swavley , Darvan Thavendran and Ayan Muhammad .
champion in 2007 . There are skills there that need to be nurtured and developed and the talented young guys and girls need courts to play on .
We need Baulkham Hills Squash and Fitness to find a new location so that they can continue on the illustrious list of Australian world number one squash players . And they may well just come from Baulkham Hills Squash and Fitness .
Rouse Hill Rams Little Athletics club
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with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Once upon a time back in the mid-90s and early 2000s , Rouse Hill was considered to be out in the sticks . Now it is a thriving hub that supports many sporting clubs and organisations including Rouse Hill Rams Little Athletics club .
Bob Gribbin , president of Rouse Hill Rams Little Athletics , advised me that the club has been around for 16 years and experienced a boom in growth over the last two seasons . Some of this has been on the back of the Commonwealth Games on TV and receiving enormous media exposure which helped push the numbers of the club up to 550 active junior members last year .
The club is benefitting from being in a population growth area in northwestern Sydney . The season kicked off on 15 September and runs every Friday night until mid-December . They have a short break over the Christmas period and start back up in mid-January , running through
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Rouse Hill Rams Little Athletics club committee . Credit : Rouse Hill Rams . |
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until the start of the state championships in mid-March .
The club runs under the Athletics NSW rules , and they run a 2-week program to get through all their events . Ages of the athletes range from four to 17 before the young athletes move up into seniors . Bob advised me that the club always have running events but mix up the jumping and throwing events on alternate weeks to ensure that they get through their program .
They are very competitive and are the only athletics club in northwest Sydney who have an IAAF track , which Bob advises me is extremely beneficial . The club have a 9-lane track and can start 800m events or longer .
The runners can make their way to the inside of the track which gives them maximum capacity to run other events in the outside eight lanes and run the middledistance events on the inside lane . They have the added bonus of having a 120m sprint track in the middle , enabling them to run a full set of events .
They coach the kids in running , and the benefits can be seen in school athletics carnivals . Many kids also take that skillset into other sports such as football and rugby league . The athletes have personal development goals when they start ; athletics is mentally different to team sports and the focus is on personal development as opposed to just winning events .
The Rams are one of the biggest
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Rouse Hill Rams Girls . Credit : Rouse Hill Rams .
athletics clubs in the northwest , and the club like many others , require the help of volunteers to help set up the fields and coach the kids every week . One of the keys to the success of the Rams is their media manager Monique Cowper . Monique helps promote them on social media and gets all the committee involved in to get maximum benefits .
Bob always wants to see the kids come off the fields with a smile on their faces . Our focus is on family and fun , and all parents are encouraged to take part , whether it be recording results , raking a sand pit , or
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cooking the BBQ .
The club also had their largest number of entries to zone , which was 156 athletes , a 95 per cent increase on the previous year . They had 68 athletes automatically qualify for region , which was a 183 per cent on previous year . The club also had 20 athletes make it to state .
Some of the notable athletes who have come through the club include Tom Holcombe and Patrick Gleeson .
Based on their success , the Rams will continue to see more outstanding young athletes in the future .
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28 ISSUE 100 // OCTOBER 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT